Day 93 - Mynah screens
September 26, 2018
Gallery 226 has only two displays. One is a large room constructed in 1985 by Japanese craftsmen and modeled on the main room of the guest residence of a temple outside Kyoto. It uses materials and techniques typical of the Momoyama period (1573-1615) and is notable for its high ceilings and the harmony of the warm tan and brown tones of its wooden beams, tatami mats, and sliding screens. Along one of the room's walsl is a long platform above which hangs a scroll with three large. bold characters that mean "profound sincerity," a state of mind considered important for achieving enlightenment. The room has no furniture. I'm not clear about the purpose to which such a room would have been put. It is easy, however, to imagine a group of priests sitting on the floor in silent meditation while facing the platform and the scroll.
The second display, shown in the photo, is of another pair of six-panel screens that were painted in the early 17th century. The screens are similar in size to the spring and autumn screens described in the previous entry. Here, however, both screens have the same motif: a flock of mynah birds, painted in black against a beige paper ground. Between five and 14 birds occupy each of the 12 individual panels. The birds are all approximately the same size, but they are shown in different activities and attitudes. A number fly through the air in V formation while some of their counterparts on the ground turn their necks to look up at them. Other birds on the ground appear to be grooming themselves, foraging for food, guarding a nest, or otherwise doing whatever mynah birds do (chattering away?). The birds are positioned at different angles:.Some are in profile, others face away from the viewer; still others face forward, as if they are about to dive-bomb something on the ground. Some of the airborne birds seem to be soaring, so that the white undersides of their wings are visible. It's obvious that the painter had a deep knowledge of mynah birds' physiology and behavior.
The second display, shown in the photo, is of another pair of six-panel screens that were painted in the early 17th century. The screens are similar in size to the spring and autumn screens described in the previous entry. Here, however, both screens have the same motif: a flock of mynah birds, painted in black against a beige paper ground. Between five and 14 birds occupy each of the 12 individual panels. The birds are all approximately the same size, but they are shown in different activities and attitudes. A number fly through the air in V formation while some of their counterparts on the ground turn their necks to look up at them. Other birds on the ground appear to be grooming themselves, foraging for food, guarding a nest, or otherwise doing whatever mynah birds do (chattering away?). The birds are positioned at different angles:.Some are in profile, others face away from the viewer; still others face forward, as if they are about to dive-bomb something on the ground. Some of the airborne birds seem to be soaring, so that the white undersides of their wings are visible. It's obvious that the painter had a deep knowledge of mynah birds' physiology and behavior.
When I first looked at the screens, I wondered whether they had symbolic meaning- whether, for example, the birds on the ground that are looking up at their flying brethren do so with submissiveness or resentment, while the other birds on the ground are simply indifferent. It seems that I may have been onto something, although the answer is uncertain. According to the caption, in East Asian literary tradition, mynah birds were regarded as symbols of honesty, independent thinking, and resistance to authority.
Undoubtedly my question is rooted in some measure in the current political situation in 21st-century America. But there is something oddly comical about the birds, and the element of humor is definitely missing from the current American scene, except perhaps in the form of savage satire.
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